Houston J. "Twine" Antwine (April 11, 1939 – December 26, 2011) was an American football defensive tackle who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons.
Early life
Antwine was born on April 11, 1939, in Louise, Mississippi.
College football
He played college football as a two-way lineman and wrestled for the Southern Illinois University Salukis. He was named a Little All-American for football, and finished as second in the NAIA heavyweight division in wrestling. In 1958, he was selected an All-American by the Williamson National Football Rating System as a defensive tackle. Antwine was selected by his football teammates as team MVP in 1960. That season, the Salukis won the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (then the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference). He earned All-Conference honors two consecutive years.
He played in the 1961 Chicago All-Star Game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Pro career
He was selected by the AFL's Houston Oilers in the 1961 AFL draft, but he was traded to the Boston Patriots for a fourth-round 1962 AFL draft pick. The vaunted Lions defense already had Pro Bowlers Roger Brown and Alex Karras in place at this position, which prompted Antwine to choose the Patriots. He played all 28 games (two starts) in his first two seasons. It was the only playoff experience for Antwine.
Nicknamed "Twine" from his wrestling days, The Pro Football Hall of Fame states Antwine became "one of the most dominant defensive players in league history especially noted as devastating against the run."
Antwine was the AFL Defensive Player of the Week as he sacked Dan Darragh three times in the Patriots' 16–7 win over the Buffalo Bills at War Memorial Stadium on September 8, 1968. He had a career high in sacks that year with 7.5.
Statistics for sacks were not officially counted in his day, but Antwine is recognized as having 38 sacks in his 142 games with the Patriots (36) and Eagles (2),
Honors
He was named to the American Football League All-Time Team in 1970 as a first-team defensive tackle alongside Tom Sestak (with future Hall of Famer Buck Buchanan named a second-team tackle).
After years as a finalist, Antwine was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2015. He was also a member of the Patriots' 50th anniversary all time team.